Regional Growth

Our region is growing, and that growth is driving air travel demand. Forecasts show that by the mid-2030s our region’s airports will start to approach a capacity milestone, even after the planned expansions at Toronto Pearson.

By the mid 2040’s, a staggering 110 million people will be looking to travel through Southern Ontario by air; yet the capacity across the region’s airports is estimated to be around 90 million passengers per year.

See the GTAA’s vision for a transit centre that would connect with a network of transit lines and highways and help the airport, and indeed the entire region, unlock its full growth potential.

This graphic has been updated from the version published on February 7, 2017.

Planning with Partners

Growing Canada with a Mega Hub Airport

As global demand for air travel continues to increase, Toronto Pearson is poised to become one of the world’s next top tier international airports, providing air connectivity to as much as 80% of the world’s economies.

Growing Canada with a Mega Hub Airport outlines the significant economic advantages realized by mega hub airports around the world, recommending six concrete steps the Government of Canada should take that would allow Toronto Pearson to realize its potential as the world’s next mega hub airport.

Collaboration with regional airports

Given how airports support the region’s economic growth, we need to plan now for the growth that’s coming to take advantage of the economic benefits for the province. Toronto Pearson has started talking with regional airports across Southern Ontario about how to collectively handle this growth.

A vision for a multi-modal travel hub New

The area around Toronto Pearson is the second-largest employment zone in Canada with more jobs than the central business districts of Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Thousands of passengers also travel to and from the airport each day – and almost all of these people use cars.

As Southern Ontario continues to grow economically and in population size, we need better transit and connectivity to keep people and goods moving.

A letter in support of Province’s high speed rail announcement New

Our Growth Plan

Here's how we're successfully supporting this growth:

Optimizing Our Facilities

Our ongoing Terminal Enhancement Project is helping to improve passenger flow in both Terminal 1 and 3, as well as support the increased number of passengers expected to pass through Toronto Pearson in the coming years.

Enhancing Ground Transportation

As the region’s population and passenger traffic increase, travel times to Toronto Pearson also will increase. UP Express is an important first chapter in Toronto Pearson’s ground transit story. However, we will need other transit connections to support the expected growth.

Today, only 5 – 10 % of our passengers and employees use public transit. To increase that number, there needs to be improved regional transit to, from and around Toronto Pearson. A regional airport strategy only works if there is connectivity to and between airports.

Relying on Regional Airports

Southern Ontario is fortunate to have many airports to serve aviation demand. With the growth that’s coming, the aviation pie in Southern Ontario is only going to get bigger. If airports work collectively to manage this growth, there will be economic benefits for the entire region.